Saviors

Chapter 4: ASHTON

Chapter 4: Ashton

 

I wake up to the sound of a helicopter thundering near the tent. I feel something stir beside me, and I glance over to see Skylar stirring. As she hears the loud noises, her arms tighten around my chest. She seems very tired, still, so I pick her up and carry her outside.

 

I walk for about 5 minutes, until I reach a large open field where the helicopter has landed. As I approach, I see the Head himself jump out of the copter and come walking towards us. I am a little surprised, as he never comes out to normal pick-up missions, but then again, Skylar is special.

 

When he sees me carrying Skylar, he looks a little surprised, and asks “Is she ok?”

 

“Yeah, just a little tired is all,” I say as I grip onto her sleeping form tighter. He nods at me, and I tell him that most of our stuff is back at the campsite. He turns around and barks some orders at an agent.

 

When he turns back to me, he says “I’ll have another chopper come in and pick your stuff up. We need to get moving if we want to reach the island before midnight, and before her Ability Day.”

 

I nodded and set Skylar down in the chopper. Glancing down at my watch, I saw that it was about 9pm. We had arrived in the clearing at about 7pm, so I had gotten about 2 hours of sleep. I could get another 2.5 in on the flight back to the Island. That would be good, as the Head wanted me to stay awake for the 24 hours of Skylar’s Ability Day. We would reach the island at about 11:30, which was perfect timing. All of Saviors academy operated on a single time zone, so as to avoid confusion when we were all around the world and sending in reports.

 

I climbed into the chopper and sat next to Skylar. She seemed to be awake, but still pretty tired. I wrapped my arm around her shoulders, and pulled her in tight, letting her use my chest as a pillow.

 

I gaze up at the bright stars and then down at Skylar’s sleeping form. The stars have always been my comfort, the one constant in my ever changing life. But somehow, right here, right now, I realize that even constants can change.

 

I feel my eyelids begin to droop as I lean against the back of the chopper. My dreams are filled with the image of a certain brown haired girl.

 

I wake up to the Head speaking, and I realize I still have my earpiece in my ear. I move to take it out, but then I hear the Head tell me to wake Skylar up, and not to take out my earpiece until we land. He was up in front of the chopper, and it was hard to converse without the earpiece. It would be hard to even converse with Skylar without leaning in close to her ear. In order to wake her up, I did exactly that.

 

I leaned in, and said “Skylar, we’re almost at the island. It’s time to wake up.” I see her stir, and suddenly, she whips her head around. That tingling sensation goes into overdrive as I find our faces less than an inch apart.

 

We both quickly pull away, and stare into each other’s eyes for a few seconds longer. I shake my head, to rid myself of that feeling, and then turn away to look out the window for a glimpse of the island.